Surface waves at the interface between an inviscid fluid and a dipolar gradient solid

•Dispersion of surface waves propagating at a fluid–solid interface is investigated.•The solid is modelled as dipolar and second gradient continuum.•Leaky Rayleigh and Scholte–Stoneley type solutions are investigated.•A subsonic Leaky wave solution is observed and discussed.

This paper is about the dispersion analysis of surface waves propagating at the interface between an inviscid fluid and a higher gradient homogeneous elastic solid modelled as a dipolar gradient continuum. In order to compare the results, a second gradient model is also evaluated. The analysis is carried out by finding the roots of the secular equation, and by carefully studying their physical meaning. As it is well known, higher gradient continua are dispersive, i.e. phase and group velocities are frequency dependent. As a consequence, the existence of surface waves will indeed depend on frequency. In order to investigate the behaviour of surface waves in this specific fluid–solid configuration, a complete dispersion analysis is performed, with a particular focus on the frequency range in which the phase velocity of shear waves is lower than the speed of waves of the fluid. Surface waves of the type Leaky Rayleigh and Scholte–Stoneley are observed in this frequency range. This work extends the knowledge on surface waves in the case of higher gradient solids and applications of these results can be found in the field of non-destructive damage evaluation in micro structured materials, composites, metamaterials and biological tissues.